In any given situation there is something to be learned.  If you are in a tough situation, maybe you are there to learn patience.  Maybe it’s humility.  Responsibility.  To be teachable.  How to lead.  Likewise even in the best situations there is still more to learn.  How to handle success.  Pride.  Humility.  And the list goes on.  But you must be open, looking and willing to learn from these situations.  Sometimes that means swallowing a ton of pride and being able to listen and learn from the little guys.

The volunteers, not just the staff members.

The assistants, not just the department heads.

The pastor with a smaller church, not just the mega churches.

The church in a different denomination, not just your little club.

The small blogger, not just the site with 100K hits per month.

Whoever it is and whatever position they are in or you are in, you have to be able to learn and stay teachable.  We are never done learning.  If we were done learning we would have it all figured out and be perfect.  I’m pretty sure that’s not gonna happen.  In the Scriptures John 9 gives us a good example not learning from the little guy.

The man replied, “This is amazing! You claim to know nothing about him, but the fact is, he opened my eyes! It’s well known that God isn’t at the beck and call of sinners, but listens carefully to anyone who lives in reverence and does his will. That someone opened the eyes of a man born blind has never been heard of—ever. If this man didn’t come from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.” They said, “You’re nothing but dirt! How dare you take that tone with us!”

John 9:30-34

This man was blind and didn’t have all the religious training and knowledge that the Pharisees had, but he was healed by Jesus and now had something to share with the rest of the world.  The Pharisees chose to ignore the supernatural healing and love Jesus had for this man and they were not open to learn from him.  He was a nobody.  How could he teach them?  They were so much better than him!

Truth is he was willing to learn and they weren’t.  He had an open and available heart.  They did not.  Examine yours today.  Are you open to learning from the “little guy”?

As I have been reading through my YouVersion daily reading plan of the Gospels with my wife, I have been reminded of so many things.  Jesus really was amazing.  He was revolutionary.  Crowds followed Him everywhere.  12 guys got backstage passes.  Really cool stuff.  But the one thing that has been hitting me the most this week is that those 12 disciples who were chosen by Jesus Christ Himself to be the early leaders of the church were NOT perfect.  Really, a lot of the time they were quite ridiculous.

• They freaked out when someone else was preaching in Jesus name.  (Is that ok, Jesus?  Are you sure?  Because I’m pretty sure they were Methodists.)

• They had the Savior of the world on their boat and almost completely fell apart because they thought they were gonna die.  (Ummm…Jesus?  You might wanna wake up because the waves are really big.  What?  No!  It’s not time for surfing!  We are drowning!)

• They saw miracle after miracle, but as soon as He told them to gather up food for the 5,o00+ they doubted again.  (Seriously?  They don’t want Long John Silvers.  No one really eats that.)

But I think my favorite so far has been from Luke 9.

They came to a Samaritan village to make arrangements for his hospitality. But when the Samaritans learned that his destination was Jerusalem, they refused hospitality. When the disciples James and John learned of it, they said, “Master, do you want us to call a bolt of lightning down out of the sky and incinerate them?” Jesus turned on them: “Of course not!”

Luke 9:52-55 (emphasis added)

Ha!  I image that Jesus giggled a little to Himself there.  Probably one of those wow-you-are-an-idiot-but-I-don’t-want-to-laugh-in-your-face-so-I-will-cough-and-clear-my-throat type giggles (or guttoral utterances if you prefer the more rugged manly version of Jesus).  Seriously?  Have you not caught on to what He is doing?  You love those that need love.  No bolts of lightning, James and John.  No chopping off ears, Peter.

They weren’t perfect.  I love that!  Because I’m not perfect.  And still they were used to change the course of history!  How amazing is it to know that the God that thought you up and loves you more than you can EVER know can use you even with all our faults, failures, immaturities, and lack of faith?!  So rest in the fact that God has a plan for you.  And even though you have screwed up and will again, He still loves you and wants to use you.

Yes, even despite that time you were pregnant and in a fit of road rage tried to summon a bolt of lightning down to incinerate the car next to you that probably really didn’t do much to you.

There is a popular bumper sticker that reads “NOTW” or not of this world.  For those of us with a relationship with Christ, this is true!  We are no longer of this world!  He has made us something else.  But it seems like a lot of the time I forget that we are still in this world.  I am a firm believer that we are called to be not of this world BUT still affect it while we are still in this world.  That is a difficult thing to do when we don’t get outside of our little church bubble.

I am as guilty as any.  I like to be selfish with my time and spend it with my family or doing things I like.  It is far too easy to cruise through life doing the safe thing.  For me the safe thing is basketball with my church friends, TV with the wife, date nights, blogging, church, etc.  Recently I have found myself caught up in this world and doing nothing for the rest of my community at all!  Ouch. That’s a tough thing to realize.  I like to justify it and say that it’s just hard to make friends you don’t spend time with.

Many times as Christians we are just like me.  We find it easy and safe to never leave the “walls of our church” to affect our surroundings at all.  We don’t make time to still be in the world.  Jesus did this!  He made time. He gave time for the Hookers and Robbers.  He did it so much that it pissed off the religious people around Him.

The Pharisees and their religion scholars came to his disciples greatly offended. “What is he doing eating and drinking with crooks and ‘sinners’?” Jesus heard about it and spoke up, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.

Luke 5:30-32

When was the last time you invited over for dinner someone you know doesn’t know Christ or at least are unsure if they do?  It’s been way too long for me.  We are called to live our lives different.  The safe, comfortable life isn’t it!  That is why Christ came.  And I’m pretty sure He didn’t take the easy way.

He came for the hookers and thieves…

…the Enron bigwigs and the Wall Street suits…

…the Buddhists and the Relativists…

…the Democrats and Republicans…

…Communists and Socialists…

…you…

…me.